Post by Jartis on Jan 28, 2020 0:12:59 GMT

{thaneofglamis}I'm not really sure how I want to judge this one. Typically effects like that are time based, rather than activated. Ultimately I suppose it doesn't matter, since either way your opponent could react to the trigger and invalidate the win-con, so ultimately forcing you to pay for the ability and tap the creature makes this a worse option than a triggered ability, but it's additional text on a creature that isn't that bad, all things considered, so it probably balances out. All that said, I think the flavor is really nice and works with the mechanics.

{Lady Mapi}Interesting that it punishes decks for running a low amount of basics or rushing out their basics with green effects. It's also rough for almost anyone late in the game, where most players will be trying to purge basics out of their deck to just draw gas. But hey, symmetric effects are fair, right? No really, jokes aside, given how punishing this is, especially in a format where basic lands are less prominent, I think the fact that it could very well kill you easier than your opponent is interesting, considering black wants to discard your library and green wants to rush out your basics.

{Flo00}I do like these red "last chance" effects. Putting it on a creature is a fun route to take it, especially given the Commander rules as they are now. I think my main issue is that indestructible effects tend to cost 2 or 3, and given that this one could save you from instantly losing the game following a possible rules change, I don't think making it cheaper is necessarily a good idea.

{sdfkjgh}First off, while I understand lifelink stacking, I would also understand how it could be confusing to some players, especially when you start adding in things like double strike. Secondly, that wincon seems pretty difficult to achieve, except in hyper competitive playgroups. Maybe that's what you were going for, but it feels like a deck built around this commander would be more likely to win via Felidar Sovereign instead.

{Xenozfan2}An interesting slow-down ability. Obviously hard to build around, being entirely colorless, but it does help mitigate those disadvantages by not letting other colors really do what they want to do as often as they want to. Plus, the activated ability incentivizes people to try to dig through their libraries to find their bigger cards, rather than wasting mana on a bunch of low cost things that will lose them the game if they cast too many at once.

{kefke}I'm not sure why you would necessarily go with cumulative upkeep, as opposed to "at the beginning of your upkeep, put an age counter on ~." Also not entirely sure what to make of a "world creature" since that wasn't really explained, though I assume it would function similarly to world enchantments? Ultimately, it's cost and P/T don't really matter, since it doesn't really function as a creature. beyond the fact that you could damage it/sacrifice it yourself to activate its effect. I like the direction, but the execution is a bit too outside of normal.

{mrlozano}Five color devotion is really interesting, and I like how the wincon ties into it. It's like a Theros version of Coalition Victory with legs, and honestly that's just super cool. My only question is where you could cut down on text by saying "At the beginning of your upkeep, if your devotion to each color is five or greater, you win the game." Though I suppose that wording could be confusing, and may even just look for all your devotion together, which obviously isn't the intention. Either way, this is a good design and a fun card.

{lizstar}It's a good thing this is blue, because you're gonna need a lot of flicker effects to get good use out of it. Otherwise, once this hits the board, it becomes a liability. I appreciate the connection between lore and mechanics, I just question the playability.

{gateways7}Black-flavored Door to Nothingness. I really dig that. In fact, I would now like to see other color-centric takes on that type of effect. All I could really say is that it could probably at least tap itself when it activates, since sacrificing permanents isn't a huge loss if you really lean into the black.

{melono}The things I immediately notice about this are that it is probably going to force you to play a ton of artifacts, because you just can't guarantee your opponents will have that many. The second thing is that, even in artifact heavy decks, 50 in a graveyard is a lot. It requires each player to keep explicit track of what's in their graveyard at all times, which doesn't lend itself to the best game experience, imo.

{wapulatus}I've always liked the idea of an effect that protected your permanents from being sacrificed. I just didn't think I'd see it coming from a creature in Grixis colors. The alternate win condition is fine, it just seems a bit too wordy. I realize that using "artifact tokens" would encompass more than just those four specific types, I think it's probably fine, balance-wise, especially since those are likely to be the vast majority of your artifact tokens anyway.

{quazerflame}It's simple, it's thematic, I love the name and the imagery and the consistency of "3" throughout the design, plus it was a simple enough design to fit in a concise bit of flavor text. Mechanically it's like Etrata without having to jump through a bunch of weird hoops, or like Vraska's assassins but a bit slower, neither of which I view as a problem. This is a very clean design.

{Winner}There were several entries that I had in the winning spot at various points throughout judging, but in the end I'm going to go with quazerflame simply due to how concise the design is. Very close runners-up are mrlozano and gateways7.

Post by Lady Mapi on Jan 28, 2020 3:37:05 GMT

Jartis Dang it, I knew I shouldn't have put in the basic clause at the last minute! More seriously, Morlin was a personal indulgence more than anything else (I have a very specific deck concept that they'd be helming).

Post by kefke on Jan 29, 2020 8:06:53 GMT

Jartis - As I said, the creature is basically a bomb. The advantage to cumulative upkeep over simply a "at the start of your upkeep, put an X counter on N" clause is that paying upkeep is voluntary, and includes a built-in "if you do not pay destroy this creature" clause. So, it's essentially a text saving way to say that you choose each turn whether the effect gets bigger, or goes off. P/T matters for the sake of other card effects, even though it cannot attack normally - for instance cards with a "fights" effect, and various forms of removal. Cost is important, as players will have to build around it to get it out in a reasonable time frame, and be encouraged to make an effort to keep it out before using its effect, as opposed to tactics where one would want to cast it repeatedly.

As for World, the rules regarding it can be found here. Basically, only one World permanent of any name can be on the battlefield at a time. It's still in the official rules, because World Enchantments still exist in formats that use older cards, and I noticed that nowhere in the Comprehensive Rules does it ever say that only enchantments can be World (in fact, despite no other types of World permanent ever being printed, the opposite is indicated). In that regard, Jörmungandr is something of...I suppose the best way to put it would be "inside out" design? I started by deciding that I wanted to make a World Creature card, then came up with the idea of using the mythical "world serpent" as that creature, and from there built abilities that would do three things;

Feel appropriate to the legend. (A massive creature which poisons the world.)

Interact with the mechanics of the World supertype in a complimentary way. (Firstly in that it benefits from dying, and secondly in that playing a second World spell would feel like a worthwhile form of removal.)

Be sufficiently game-changing to warrant an "only one card of this kind may be on the battlefield at once" clause. (Serving as an alternate win condition and/or the key card to one or more combos.)

Post by kefke on Jan 31, 2020 13:20:31 GMT

How about a love story?

Edit / Author's Note: Something I feel like I might as well include as a point of interest is that I actually gave a fair amount of consideration to whether Painted Vale should be a Legendary Enchantment, or a World Enchantment. In the context of the card the word vale is being used with the definition "the world, or mortal or earthly life", as opposed to the more common use as a synonym for valley. So in that respect, it feels thematically appropriate for the "painted world" to be a World spell. I'm also just a big fan of the World supertype in general, and feel it lends cards a sense of added grandeur - a "beyond Legendary" status. However, I've had issues with trying to reintroduce World cards in the past. Understandable, since it's an old and obscure rule that's only still on the books for the sake of legacy cards. So, for the sake of this challenge, I went with Legendary, as it's the easiest to understand and judge in a vacuum. On the other hand, I think if I were going to make a set that included commanders (or other Legendary permanents) melding to make their creations as a major theme, I probably would go ahead and make all the melded cards World permanents, as that would lend an interesting mechanic, with only one player able to control a "great work" at a time.

Withengar's Essence Legendary EnchantmentWithengar's Essence enters the battlefield with thirteen blood counters.At the beginning of your upkeep and whenever a creature you control dies, remove a blood counter from Withengar's Essence.Whenever the last blood counter is removed from Withengar's Essence, transform it.

Post by wapulatus on Feb 1, 2020 9:38:32 GMT

Phythix, Self-Splicer

Legendary Artifact Creature - Horror

: Put the top two cards of your library into your graveyard. Until end of turn, Phythix, Self-Splicer gains all activated abilities of artifacts put into the graveyard this way. Activate this ability only once each turn.

Whenever two or more artifact cards are put into your graveyard from your library, transform Phythix.

1/3

//////

Phythix, Mindless Engine

Legendary Artifact

Phythix, Mindless Engine has all activated abilities of all artifact cards in all graveyards.

With every part of body and mind replaced, it resembled him in name only.

Post by sdfkjgh on Feb 2, 2020 4:41:16 GMT

Iode, Champion of Velta enters the battlefield with a blaze counter on it for each time it was cast from the command zone.

Iode, Champion of Velta gets +1/+0 for each blaze counter on it.

Blazing Glory can have better templating as well:

At the beginning of each upkeep, remove a blaze counter from Blazing Glory. When you do, Blazing Glory deals damage to any target equal to the number of blaze counters on it. When the last blaze counter is removed from Blazing Glory or if it would leave the battlefield, you may return it to the command zone instead.

Iode, Champion of Velta enters the battlefield with a blaze counter on it for each time it was cast from the command zone.

Iode, Champion of Velta gets +1/+0 for each blaze counter on it.

Blazing Glory can have better templating as well:

At the beginning of each upkeep, remove a blaze counter from Blazing Glory. When you do, Blazing Glory deals damage to any target equal to the number of blaze counters on it. When the last blaze counter is removed from Blazing Glory or if it would leave the battlefield, you may return it to the command zone instead.

Post by Flo00 on Feb 2, 2020 16:52:53 GMT

Eszelbob, King of Laob Legendary Creature - Shapeshifter Wizard : Exile Eszelbob, King of Laob, then cast it transformed. X is equal to Eszelbob, King of Laob’s power.Counters remain on Eszelbob, King of Laob as it moves to any zone other than a player’s hand or library.3/3-----------------Eszelbob’s Command Instant Choose two —• Put two +1/+1 counters on Eszelbob’s Command.• Eszelbob’s Command deals damage to any target equal to the number of counters on it.• Look at the top X cards of your library, where X is the number of counters on Eszelbob’s Command.• Remove all counters from Eszelbob’s Command.Put Eszelbob’s Command onto the battlefield untransformed instead of anywhere else as it resolves.

Post by ZephyrPhantom on Feb 7, 2020 5:27:08 GMT

The Lone ArbiterLegendary Creature - Archon Knight Exalted (Whenever a creature you control attacks alone, that creature gets +1/+1 until end of turn.)Whenever The Lone Arbiter would leave the battlefield, you may transform it and place a legacy counter on it instead.2/2"The flesh and spirit are weak."//Mask of the ArbiterArtifact - Equipment Hexproof, indestructibleEquipped creature's name becomes The Lone Arbiter.Whenever equipped creature attacks alone, it gets +1/+1 until end of turn for each legacy counter on it.Whenever equipped creature would leave the battlefield, you may put a legacy counter on Mask of the Arbiter.Equip It is an unforgettable legacy that is truly immortal.

Had to think about the color identity because I wanted it to be cheap and easily removable but also give as many opportunities as possible to exploit the removing on user's side. In the end I settled for Esper because I wanted Exalted, bouncing, and sacrifice to all be possible themes to build it around.

Post by quazerflame on Feb 9, 2020 13:33:56 GMT

Post by quazerflame on Feb 9, 2020 14:11:48 GMT

kefke: The concept and flavor are a big hit. The massive rules text needed for meld makes Orsal's semi-vanilla status make sense, and Princess Leonette's ability makes sense standing alone. Painted Vale feels like it should be green, though, with the mana doubling and changing colorless mana to all-color mana.

ladymapi: I love werewolves, but this one feels a little confusing to play, and slightly overpowered. Werewolves transform frequently, so we get some cards that allow them to transform themselves, but other transform cards have hoops to jump through. No controller restriction also turns this into a repeatable kill on sparker DFC.

thaneofglamis: Clean abilities that reference each other on either face, and the option to use the dead guy as a mana rock if your creatures are getting through. Very nice. The threat of the second ability makes blocking a serious consideration.

sdfkjgh: I get that planeswalker ultimates are supposed to be powerful, but this one turns your commander into a command zone entity that might as well say "I win". I get what you're trying to accomplish here, but WOW.

Xenozfan2: 13 CMC, 13/13, 13 blood counters. I like it. Having a massive, difficult to remove threat like this is a good reward for thirteen mana, and crazy in reanimator. A clause to prevent reanimation cheating might have been good here.

wapulatus: I'm imagining the back face of this card as this massive conglomeration of artifacts melded into a blob of flesh. Disgusting and brilliant. Sell-mill ahoy!

Tesagk: Solid abilities that build on each other. The "you may return it to the command zone" clause on the back face is a little unnecessary and technically allows you to shove this card into the command zone while it's not your commander.

Flo00: Nonpermanent back-face! Wow! It doesn't exactly work as written, since the back face doesn't have the keeping counters ability too, but I get where you were aiming. The instant getting harder to cast as it gets more powerful is a plus, too. Also, a perfect opportunity to make the back face legendary, I think.

ZephyrPhantom: Very flavorful, with the identity of the creature being passed down and getting stronger as time passes. The last ability of the mask doesn't need the word "would" as it turns it into a replacement effect.

Post by Lady Mapi on Feb 16, 2020 20:31:52 GMT

Sertei, Champion of Flux - Legendary Creature - Spirit Knight First strike, vigilance: Swap target creature's power and toughness until end of turn. Until end of turn, whenever that creature is dealt damage, you gain that much life.2/2